1888 - 89 .] 
Chairmans Opening Address. 
13 
which also a report will he found in No. II. of the Journal of the 
Marine Biological Association. 
Deference may be made here to a further work now being carried 
on in England in connection with marine biology. The Laboratory 
of the Marine Eiological Association of the United Kingdom, which 
owes its existence mainly to the labours of Professor Lankester, was 
opened a few months ago at Plymouth, and in point of size and 
equipment takes rank among the first of such institutions through- 
out the world, considering the short time the laboratory has been 
established. A considerable amount of work has been already 
done, and the lines of future investigations have been laid down. 
A list of the fauna and flora of Plymouth Sound has been compiled, 
and researches have been begun on the breeding of the sole, pil- 
chard, herring, conger, &c., and the development of the lobster, 
various shrimps, and other crustaceae. It is proposed to make an 
exhaustive study of the fauna of the Sound, and of the connection 
between varying physical conditions and the distribution and migra- 
tory movements of the organisms. There can be little doubt that, 
now that it has been fairly started, this laboratory will prove an 
important means of extending our knowledge of the biology and 
physics of the sea. What I have said regarding scientific work has 
been confined to what is being done in our own country, perhaps 
chiefly from the selfish view that we are thence most likely to get 
contributions to our meetings and Proceedings. I should, however, 
be doing violence to my own, and I am sure also to your feelings, 
if I were to pass over without note the brilliant achievement of Dr 
Nansen of Bergen, with Lieutenant Dietrichsen and Mr Sverdrup, in 
crossing the inland ice of Greenland from east to west. We recog- 
nise in this not merely scientific zeal, but that indomitable Scandi- 
navian “pluck” which filled the nation with terror at the prowess 
of the Norsemen of old, but now deserves the admiration of the 
civilised world for their hardy stalwart descendants. It is, of course, 
to be expected that whatever Dr Nansen may have to communicate 
will be told to the scientific societies of his own country; but I 
think that I may venture in your name to assure him that if he 
chooses to send anything to us in Danish, we shall easily find means 
of putting it in form to appear in our own Proceedings. 
The Proceedings of the past and previous years show that there 
